ROSEBURY, Australia — New Zealand will face
Australia in Sunday's Australian
Men's Amateur final — a 36-hole bout at The
Australian Golf Club in New South Wales.

Tyler Hodge, a left-handed 19-year-old from
Levin, New Zealand, will meet
Cameron Davis, also 19, of Sydney.

Reaching the final meant winning two matches
on Saturday. Hodge took down
fellow countryman Jason Gusalekharam in the
morning 2-and-1, then ended Kevin
Yuan's run in the semifinals with a 3-and-2 win.
Davis won 3-and-2 in the
quarterfinals against Jake Sullivan of Queensland
and went to the 19th hole with
Justin Warren in the semis.

Hodge entered the 12th hole three-up on Yuan
but had his lead trimmed to two
through 14, eventually closing out the teenager
from New South Wales on 16.
Davis and Warren needed one extra hole, with
Warren missing his par attempt
after Davis chipped to two feet.

Davis is quite the story, in that though he
plays right-handed, he is almost as talented of a
player from the left side — where his opponent
on Sunday hits the ball from.

“It just came naturally – I like trying new things
and when I was younger I put the
ball behind the trees a bit more often and so I
had to find a way to get out of
trouble,” Davis told Mark Hayes of Golf
Australia.

Davis is already off to a nice start in the new
year, tying for 12th at the Australian
Master of the Amateurs before finishing in the
top-three a week later at the Lake Macquarie
Amateur, which was won by Canadian
native and top-ranked Corey Conners.

Conners reached Saturday's quarterfinals after
defeating the defending champion
Tae Koh of New Zealand, but lost 2-and-1 to
semifinalist Yuan.